Field Training

Impact

“I was deceived as a young person, and I don’t want to see others deceived.”

“My college theology professor is teaching progressive creation, but I can
see all the problems with his view because our church’s Foundations classes
taught us to defend the biblical worldview.”

“My friend said evolution is the reason he doesn’t believe the Bible, but I
was able to answer his objections using what I learned in our church’s worldview
program.”

“If it weren’t for the special worldview emphasis at home and at church, I
think my faith would be falling apart right now in my high school theology class.”

Shyla Allard of Grace Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, hears encouraging
comments like this all the time. The church has specialized worldview programs
for different age groups. Ninth graders are offered a Christian worldview and
doctrine class at church on Sunday nights, which Shyla and ten others teach.
For the past four years, it has culminated in a one-week road trip, where the
young people apply everything they’ve learned to interpret the professional
exhibits at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. For a wholesome
contrast, they also visit the Creation Museum near Cincinnati and analyze the
differences.

The barrage of evolutionary dogma at the Field Museum can be a bit overwhelming.
So Shyla now guides the tour. Shyla and her sister, a schoolteacher, visited
the Field Museum ahead of time and then prepared a study guide to the museum’s
huge Evolving Planet display. Students use the booklet to record their observations
and questions while they tour the museum.

Photo courtesy Shyla Allard

Shyla (far right) discusses an exhibit in the Field Museum with her Foundations students.

In Shyla’s practiced hands, a Field Museum video on radioisotope dating becomes
a springboard for young people to identify the undisclosed evolutionary assumptions
that drive these mistaken dating techniques. When they come to a video on natural
selection, young people first ask themselves where biblical creationists would
agree with the video. The point is that observational science can discover wonderful
things about living creatures, which we agree upon, but historical science,
which attempts to discover the origin of life and how things happened in the
past, depends on unproveable assumptions about the unobserved past. By the Creator’s
design, creatures can adapt to changing environments, but they don’t change
into different kinds of creatures.

A highlight of the 2012 trip was the chance to compare two different interpretations
of Lucy, the famous ape and supposed ancestor of humans. After viewing the Creation
Museum’s distinctly apelike Lucy, students could easily see how opposing worldviews
influenced the Field Museum’s exhibit, where Lucy stands upright and has a human
face, hands, and feet.

That evening, students and teachers gathered at the hotel to discuss their
visits to the two museums. Although leaders expected a short debriefing so students
could quickly adjourn for their social time in the hotel, the hands kept going
up to share their thoughts.

Shyla is thrilled to see God grant such understanding. She says, “I was deceived
as a young person, and I don’t want to see others deceived; I want them to know
the truth.”

What Makes an Effective Training Program?

The success of any church training program depends ultimately upon the Holy
Spirit, but successful programs usually share many qualities. The pastoral
staff at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, have incorporated several
important elements.

Common Vision—Grace Church has a passion to develop young adults with
strong faith. That common vision energizes and directs the youth trainers.

Staged Reinforcement—Grace offers focused worldview and doctrine
classes at three strategic stages. In fifth and sixth grade, children are
beginning to seriously consider fundamental worldview questions. Ninth-grade
class is the first year of high school, when challenges to kids’ faith intensify.
High school seniors need an advanced worldview class and refresher, just before
they head into the work force or to college.

Incentive—Students who complete the class are rewarded with a field
trip.

Joint Hard Work—Pastors and lay people at Grace wrote a curriculum
to teach Christian worldview and Bible doctrines. That hard effort needed
church members’ dedicated participation. Your church may not write its own
curriculum, but effective teaching requires hard work from everyone, not just
the pastor.

High Expectations—Students are not given a “free ride.” Worldview
classes include exams. The ninth- and twelfth-grade classes are offered Sunday
evenings at a time when students must decide whether to invest their free
time to attend.

Practical Application—The field trip gives students the opportunity
to see opposing worldviews at full strength, safely guided by wise teachers
under controlled conditions.

Personal Sacrifice—Grace Church underwrites almost half of the cost
of the road trip. Shyla made a special trip to Chicago. Effective training
requires sacrifices of time and money to God’s glory.

Answers Magazine

January – March 2013

Learn about our culture's newest tactics in the battle for kids' souls, and discover what you can do in your home and church to reclaim our youth for Jesus, the Creator. In addition to this special section of three articles, you'll find all the creation content you expect from Answers magazine, including a look at Lucy, the famous ape; animals with "sixth senses"; ancient and modern reefs; and intriguing findings about the animal kinds on Noah's Ark.

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